Given that Mark Brown is maybe the best local Hudson Valley singer-songwriter of the post-Dylan generation (Steve Earle seems to have moved on; he always seemed like an interloper, anyway, his genius aside), the decade between the lone 2005 album by Brown’s old band, Uncle Buckle, and Skin & Bone, his exceptional 2015 solo debut, added up to a long, hard wait. But Brown is a master craftsman, and he’s never been in any hurry to, borrowing a line here from Phil Ochs, play the chords of fame. He seems to just want to do good work and write good songs. And in a rare return to the stage the reclusive journeyman Brown will be singing some of those songs at the Rosendale Cafe on August 6.
Brown’s country-folk tunes mirror his Woody Guthrie-esque troubadour working life as a carpenter, a farmer, a deep sea fisherman, and a mechanic, among other gigs. The stylistic reference points are impeccable: John Prine, Tom Waits, Johnny Cash. But Brown brings his own parched voice to the confessional songwriter’s stool as he weaves his weathered tales of creosote, corn, posthole diggers, and girls on dirt bikes.
“See You Next Time” is the opening cut of Skin & Bone:
Mark Brown and his band will perform at the Rosendale Cafe in Rosendale, New York, on August 6 at 8pm. Admission is $10. For more information, call (845) 658-9048 or visit www.rosendalecafe.com.
This article appears in July 2016.
